You're my Idiot, you got that Idiot?
by xXKisaUzumakiXx
Summary: Her whole life, Sakura has been best friends with Naruto and Sasuke. Once entering high school, Sakura is placed with a dilemma on her first week - a certain new girl has been overly attached to Naruto lately. And to top it off, her 'wonderful' parents have left her, and Sakura must find a place to stay at for the week. Could this change how she feels about Naruto? - a NaruSaku
1. Chapter 1

_**Hi guys, I'm Kisa. This is my first FanFic, so please bear with me, and feel free to write a review on how good/bad it was. I update every two days, so make sure to check!**_

Chapter 1: Get up idiot

"Naruto! Get up you idiot!" I smacked Naruto's head with my school bag, jumping up and down on his apartment's floor. If the little fool didn't get up soon… I swear I would just leave him here. Best friends or not, he had to learn a lesson.

"Uwaaah Sakuuura-chaaan…?!" Naruto exclaimed, amidst yawning. I glared at him.

"Baka! Get your butt out of bed, and get ready in thirty minutes, tops! Geez, we're entering our freshman year of high school, don't you think you could be a little bit more responsible? You _know _we have our orientation today, and school starts tomorrow!" He groaned and shuffled out of bed, his little sleeping hat positioned lopsidedly on his head. The apartment floor was a mess – papers strewn everywhere, sink brimming with dishes, laundry overflowing the baskets, food wrappers littering the tables and floors. I watched as he navigated his way around the mess into the bathroom, scratching his head. God. He was such an idiot.

Twenty minutes later, Naruto emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around him, his blonde hair sopping wet. I groaned.

"Naruto! You're so slow! You're skipping breakfast. Sasuke-kun and the rest are going to meet us at Starbucks on the way to school, and if you make me late in meeting him I'll screw you!"

"B-but I have my special ramen for brea-"

"I don't give a crap! Get changed and get out!"

"Fineeeeee." He grumbled, trudging back into the bathroom with some rumpled clothes.

I sat down at the sofa, tapping my foot with impatience, until he emerged five minutes later, wearing our school's uniform. It was almost cute on him. Ha, if it was cute on _Naruto, _then it would definitely be cute on Sasuke-kun. I couldn't wait to see him. Throwing a random jacket I pulled of the floor and a backpack at Naruto, I caught hold of his sleeve and begin dragging him out the door.

"Let's go, let's go!"

"Okay, okay, let me lock the apartment!" He huffed, jamming the key into the lock.

"Great, good, let's freakin _go_!"

Starbucks wasn't that far away from Naruto's house. He lived in the apartment complex ten minutes away from school, by himself. He never told us where his parents were. I lived in a big house a couple streets from Naruto, with my parents. Sasuke-kun lived in a condo three streets behind Naruto, by himself. We all knew his parents died though, although no one knows why. All three of us where the best of friends, though Naruto was definitely the annoying one in the lot. We had our group of friends, not just us, but we were like the group within the group.

Finally arriving at Starbucks, we stopped, panting. Naruto was clutching his stomach moaning.

"When we go in, you better buy me a Starbucks Sakura-chan, I'm starving." He groaned.

I sighed. "Fine, but it better be less than five bucks, that's all I have."

We walked in among the busy rumble of the usual – students, grabbing a last minute energy booster and adults, usually getting a quick snack before their work. Sasuke was seated in a booth near the back of the room, typing away on his laptop, headphones covering his ears. A grande sized coffee was sitting next to his laptop, from which he would take a sip every now and then.

We walked up to him, and plopped down in the booth.

" Good morning Sasuke-kun!" I said cheerfully, "We would have come sooner but Naruto decided to be a lazy idiot as usual and sleep in." Sasuke slid of his headphones and sipped another portion of his Starbucks.

"As expected." He said, in his rich voice. Naruto glared at him.

He read the menu plastered on the wall behind the counter while muttering something about 'Sasuke' and 'Jerk'.

"Sakura-chan, get me the vanilla bean with whipped cream." He pleaded, while rubbing his stomach.

Sasuke smirked. "What, skip a breakfast, loser?"

"None of your business, pretty boy." They both glared at each other, then after a pause they simultaneously grinned. Typical.

"Right then, I'll go grab Naruto's coffee… see ya. We should leave from here in about three minutes if we want to get to the high school orientation on time. Sasuke nodded, while Naruto just bounced in his seat impatiently.

"Sasukeeeee-kun!" A high pitched girlie squeal reached my ears. Sasuke sighed, Naruto stared like a clueless idiot and I whipped my head around just in time to catch a high, blonde, long ponytail whip by me. Our friend, Ino Yamanaka latched onto Sasuke like he was her salvation or something, cooing.

"Ooh, oh, you look so cute in that shirt Sasuke-kun!"

"Yo."

"Hey guys."

Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimich followed Ino inside. Choji was accompanied by his all-time favorite, giant chips combo. Shikamaru just looked bored.

"Get off of him, Ino pig." I hissed at her.

"Forehead." She said smugly.

"This is such a drag…" Shikamaru complained. A look from Ino silenced him.

"Sakura-chan I want my coffee…" Naruto whined. I growled, and stalked off towards the lines. By the time I returned, the other group had arrived as well: Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. Naruto was chatting with Hinata animatedly, while Hinata sat there red as a tomato, trembling and nodding. Kiba and Shikamaru where arguing over something, and Shino was sitting there meddling with a pencil.

"Here, Naruto, your coffee."

"Thanks Sakura-chan." He leaned in a little closer so he could whisper in my ear. "Hey, Sakura-chan, why does Hinata always turn red and stutter?"

I shook my head. "You are such a clueless idiot Naruto." I huffed.

"Eeeeh!? How am _I_ supposed to know why she does that?"

"Figure it out yourself."

I leaned away from him and addressed the group. "Guys, we should get going now." They all agreed, and we begin walking to school.

"Woah…" We stared up at the ginormous high school. A woman was standing outside. She had her long blonde hair tied into pigtails, and was wearing a revealing white tank top and Capri's.

"Hi, I'm your principle, Tsunade Senju. You can address me as Tsunade-sama, Tsunade-sensei, or just ." She said cheerfully, as we passed by. We all addressed her with some kind of reply, and shuffled past her.

We were given a tour of the school, before being dragged into the auditorium with all the other freshman.

"We will now announce classrooms and teachers!" Tsunade-sama announced.

"Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki….Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara….Choji Akimichi….Kiba Inuzuka,Shino Aburame….. – you guys will have Iruka-sensei on the third floor, room 309! Please proceed to your classrooms!" We all eyeballed each other and grinned. We had gotten into the same class…yes! We trudged upstairs.

We entered the classroom and sat down wherever we wanted to. Ino and I sat in the front. The guys sat in the back, and Hinata hesitated, looking between us and the boy's (aka Naruto) and came sat in between Ino and I.

Naruto got up and left saying something like 'getting water'.

Not long after he left, a couple voices carried down the hallway.

"Look, it's the looser orphan guys! Let's take his money!"  
A chorus of "Yeah!" was followed by some grunting and a yell. I clenched my fist. This _always _happened to Naruto. I looked back at Sasuke. He too was clenching his fist and glaring out the door.

"Wait, looser Naruto, maybe your parents didn't want you so they abandoned you and left? Huh? Because they didn't want to see your looser face? Hmm?" Okay. That was it. I shoved my seat back and raised an eyebrow at Sasuke. The message was clear. _You coming? _He nodded and, and we stalked out together. I gasped.

Naruto was pinned down by a crowd of boys, with another ring of girls looking on, cheering for the boys. He was slumped down on the wall, with a purple eye and pocket sleeves hanging out, looking utterly pissed off.

"No you idiot, my parents were murdered, okay? There, you happy!?" He yelled. His eyes widened as he turned and saw Sasuke and I standing there with our mouths open. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows and pushed through the crowd to Naruto.

"Get away from him." He growled. "Sakura, take Naruto to the infirmary." I nodded and quickly ran to Naruto, gently pulling him up and dragging him down the hall. According to the tour of the school, the infirmary was on the second floor, room 200. I stared at Naruto as we walked down the stairs. He never told us that his parents were murdered, instead choosing to live with the horrible truth by himself. Poor guy. His hair still hadn't fully dried yet, and was hanging limply. Blue eyes swam with a thin layer of defeat. After reaching the infirmary, I sat Naruto down and patted his cheek. His eyes met mine, and for a moment, I was lost in the endless sea of blue, before I looked away, biting my lips.

"You baka." I said quietly, getting up and searching for some ice. "You should have called for us."

"But you came anyways." I froze.

"Yeah. Yeah, we did. You do know that you can tell us anything right?" I asked finally locating the ice and turning around, only to freeze again. Shit. Naruto looked ready to die. This was probably extremely humiliating for him, now that I thought about it.

"Um…ice." I pressed some onto his eye, and he flinched. I gripped his hand. I knew I wanted to become a doctor, and that as a doctor I would see _way _worse injuries than this one, but somehow that fact that it was Naruto that was injured hurt me more than I could say. This was the first fight he'd had in a long time, and it was by far the worse. In previous fights, he would come of easy, with a couple of scratches, maybe a bruise if unlucky. But never before had he come of this bad.

"Thanks…Sakura." Naruto said. He searched my face once, and pulled me into his arms. I stiffened, about to pull away and smack him, then relaxed after remembering what state he was in. How many times had he hugged me before? Too many to count. Stupid of me to just realize it now, but there, in his arms, I felt safe.

There was a quick rap on the door and Sasuke walked in. When he saw us hugging, he gave the tiniest of smiles, and came to rest his arm on my head.

"How are you doing Naruto?" He asked shifting his weight slightly so my neck wouldn't crack from the pressure of holding him up.

"Better... Let's go." He shot me a quick glance then untangled himself from my arms, and we walked back to class.

I tried not to wonder whether that hug was his usual idiot hug or if it meant something more, as we reentered the classroom.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Diversion

"Saaaakura, you keep looking at Naruto. What, are you rethinking his request for you to go out with him?" Ino teased. Hinata turned around terrified. It was no secret she liked Naruto… the only idiot stupid enough to not notice was Naruto himself.

"No, no. Just worried. Why, are you wondering if you could go out with him instead? I thought you swore you were team Sasuke for life." I said, grinning. By the time we had gotten back to the classroom, Sasuke had yelled at all the students outside, and they had come back inside, disgruntled. There was already a 'Team Sasuke' formed, as you could see from the crowd of girls clustered around Sasuke. Sasuke was pretty annoyed, since this years 'Team Sasuke' was much bigger than last year, and we (our group of friends) knew he hated them all. I'd asked him out many times, but he always turned me down. Our friendship was never damaged though. I'd given up on asking him out, just hoping that maybe he would ask me out someday. Ino liked him too, we both knew that.

"Yeah, but we both know Sasuke-kun will never ask you out, your wide forehead is too wide."

A game of 'kill each other with your stare' broke out between us, while Hinata watched us fearfully.

"Class! Get in a seat now!" Giggling, all the girls returned to their seats, and the boys hanging around in the corners grabbed a chair and plopped down.

A man with short cropped brown hair and tan skin stood in the front of the room. He looked pretty young, but he had a scar across his nose.

"I'm Iruka, your homeroom and fifth period teacher this year. I hope you like your seats, because they are permanent." A chorus of groans erupted from around the room. I turned around. I didn't mind my seat, and Shikamaru, Choji, Naruto, Sasuke, Shino and Kiba certainly didn't either. They were seated comfortably in the back, headphones on, not in the least paying attention. Well, maybe Sasuke and Shino were, but the rest weren't. There was a couple rows of boys seated in front of them, separating the girls from Sasuke. I think it can be safe to assume that the groans had come from the girls, or maybe the boys seated around Sasuke who feared for their lives.

"Boys in the back, take your headphones of!" Sasuke took his headphones of, and elbowed Naruto and Kiba, to his left and right. They too took their headphones out and stared somewhere behind the teachers head. Shikamaru and Choji just kept listening.

"Okay. So, this is where you will be returning for homeroom tomorrow. Remember your seats. Come up to the front, and I'll hand you your schedule and then you are free to leave. Remember, school starts tomorrow at seven!" We all lined up in front of Iruka's desk and waited for him to hand us our schedules. The cluster of girls had once again reassumed their positions around Sasuke, and Naruto and I had to go in and drag him out in front of us.

He rubbed his head. "Thanks, the girls were driving me crazy."

Naruto smirked, and I patted Sasuke's shoulder. "We're good now."

After receiving our schedules, we went and gathered around outside the door. Most students had left home, but we wanted to see if we had the same schedules. Kiba, Naruto, Sasuke and I had all of our classes together. The rest of the group shared maybe three to four classes with us, but we all had the same lunch.

Saying bye, they all left, leaving Sasuke, Naruto, and I.

"You guys wanna head to the park?" Naruto asked hopefully. Heading to the park meant spending less time on his own.

"Can't, I have work to do." Sasuke replied.

I felt bad, but I had to tell him the truth. "I can't either, I have work to do as well."

He shrugged and took off, leaving Sasuke and I to follow in his lead. Man, the guy could walk fast when he wanted to. Wait, wait that made no sense – if he didn't want to spend time alone, why was he walking so fast? I had to jog a little to catch up with him, but when we finally did, we were already at my house.

"Bye, Sakura-chan." Naruto said without looking at me.

"See you tomorrow, Sakura. Should we meet at Starbucks again? In case Naruto forgets his breakfast, that is." Sasuke said with a smirk. Naruto whipped his head around to shoot Sasuke a teasing glare, than smirked right back at him.

"Sure, why not. We all know that's just your excuse to meet Ino outside of school again, _Saaasssukkee-kuuun._" Naruto said, imitating Ino's squeal. Sasuke narrowed his gaze and shot a punch at Naruto, who easily blocked it.

"Sakura! Get up here, you forgot to do the groceries and you need to do all the laundry and the dishes too!" My mom's voice drifted upstairs from our house. I smacked my head to my hand, plucking my brain for a quick way out. I caught sight of Naruto's face, and blurted out without thinking.

"Um, I can't, Naruto and I are going on a date!" He opened his mouth, whether to object or complain, I'm not sure. But I clasped one hand over his mouth, using my other to drag him to the convenience store two streets away, shooting a quick sorry over my shoulder to Sasuke. But he didn't mind, or so it seemed – he just waved us of.

I pulled to a stop, breathing hard.

"Sakura-chan…"

"Sorry Naruto. Um, here I'll get us some instant ramen or something, and we could go to your place."

He stared at me for a while, before stepping into the store and grabbing four bowls.

"Naruto! What the heck are you getting four bowls for? There is only the two of us."

He seemed surprised. "Yes, but you need a bowl right?"

" Yes…?"

"Ok. If you need one, then I have to get three more for me. I thought maybe you wanted more or something." Oh. My. God.

"Naruto… if you don't stop eating like that you'll become like Choji soon." I scolded him.

He grinned. "No thanks, I'm good."

I stood shaking my head while he paid for the ramen up at the counter.

"So… Sakura-chan…" He shifted his attention to me as we walked back to his house. "Do you want to watch a movie, or something?"

"Uh, whatever you want. This isn't an actual date you know, just a diversion." I reminded him.

"Right…" Urgh _I wish I could read his mind. _I thought to myself while I watched him unlock his apartment door.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Dilemma

"Okay, go make the ramen. I swear, if I have to look at this mess one more time I'll puke. So I'll be nice and clean it up for you."

"Hai, hai, Sakura-chan." He said, with a salute and a cheesy grin, and lumbered of to the kitchen.

"Okay… so this goes here… and that…" I muttered to myself. I grabbed a basket from his laundry room, and tossed all his clothes in. Then, I shuffled all his papers into a stack on his coffee table, and picked up all his wrappers and junk of the floor and threw them away. It took me almost 20 minutes.

"Done, I'm done with the ramen Sakura-chan, let's eat!"

"Coming!" I called back. I pulled my hair into a pony tail, and washed my hands, only to return and find Naruto had set up everything in the living room.

"Shouldn't we eat in the dining room?" I asked him.

"Um yeah… but like there is no TV in the dining room."

"…"

"Okay, let's eat." He gave me a bowl of ramen, while he laid out his three in front of him and began slurping up his ramen. Some random show on Disney channel was playing, so we watched while we ate.

"Sakura-chan, your phone just buzzed." Naruto informed me, soon after picking up his second bowl.

"Oh, okay." I walked over to where I had placed my backpack, and pulled out my phone where a message from my mom greeted me.

**_Sakura you lazy child. Don't lie to me, I know you just did that to poor Naruto-kun to get away with your chores. Anyhow, I hope you took your keys, because your father and I are going to Tokyo for the week. We need to help your grandmother, she has a sudden case of some unheard sickness. I was going to tell you when you came home, but you didn't, so I'm telling you now. Bye. – mom_**

I frantically searched my backpack for my keys, but came up empty. I groaned, and fell spread eagled onto Naruto's floor groaning. I squeezed my eyes shut, massaging my forehead. _Okay Sakura, be calm… think. Think. You could go to Ino's, or Hinata's. Maybe Ten-ten's place. _

"Sakura….chan?" I opened my eyes to find Naruto leaning over me, his face inches from mine. I could see the different blues in his eyes.

Quickly, I rolled out from under him, and explained my dilemma.

"You could stay with me." He offered.

"Not in your dreams, your pervert."

Feigning offence, he pouted. "I see how it is. So you can use me for a distraction, and call me a idiot in front of everyone. But when you don't need anything, I'm just an idiot pervert huh?"

I knew he was just joking but when he put it like that…

"Sorry Naruto… Here, I'll call Hinata and Ino and let you know what they say. If they both can't help, then I guess I could stay here."

"Your choice." He went back to the sofa and started on his third bowl.

"Hey, Ino, could I stay at your place this week?" I asked after dialing her number.

"Uh, sorry Sakura, no can do, I have my cousins over."

"Oh, okay then." I said. I scrolled through my contacts list and found Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata, would it be alright if I stayed at your place this week?"

"O-oh, sorry Sakura-chan, I can't. We are hosting the Hyuga family reunion this weekend and my father said I have to start preparing now, since we have such a big family."

"That's all right…" I crossed my fingers and called Ten-Ten.

"Hey Ten-Ten-senpai. Would it be all right if I stayed over at your place this week?"

"Oh hey Sakura! I'm sorry, I wouldn't mind at all but I can't, my parents are out of town, and they don't let me have anyone over when they aren't at home."

"It's okay…" I cut the call and turned around to look at Naruto. He had finished his three bowls of ramen and was starting on some ice cream. I didn't miss the fact that he had taken out one for me too.

"Uh…Naruto I guess I'll stay here then…"

He looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. "What, you aren't going to ask Sasuke as well?"

"That would be awkward."

He muttered something inaudible to himself. "Ok… then. Your clothes?"

"I have my school uniform, and I have two extra sets of clothing in my backpack. I can just wash and reuse them."

"Great. Good."

Another awkward moment arose as I stood up, wondering whether to go brush my teeth, or go back and finish my food. I decided on the latter, and went and sat down rather uncomfortably next to Naruto and began my ice cream.

"You can take my bed, I'll have the sofa." He said, without taking his eyes from the TV.

"It's all right, I can have the sofa."

"No, I got this Sakura-chan. You have the bed."

"A-allright then." I felt as if the awkward air in-between us had broken, so I allowed myself to scoot closer to Naruto and rest my head on his shoulder. I could feel his body tense, his strong muscles flexing through the thin uniform. I blinked. Since when did he have muscles? Oh well, who cares. I willed myself not to look at Naruto, but instead focus on the movie for the rest of the night. I sighed. Stupid parents... couldn't they have given me a heads up before I left the house this morning? Although it was sort of my fault for not listening to my mom when I came back from school... but what was I supposed to be, psychic? Was I supposed to magically understand that my mom had to tell me something, even before she told me she did? Impossible.

"Sakura-chan, your not watching the movie. Do you wasn't me to change it?"

"Eh?" I fixed my attention on Naruto, who was currently looking down at me with his neck twisted uncomfortably in order to look at my face at this distance.

"No, no, I'm good." He shrugged and subconsciously slid his arm around me.

"Naruto..." I cracked my knuckles and he let out a yelp and scurried away from me. With a grin, I leaned back into the sofa, forcing myself to forget about everything... just to enjoy the moment while it lasts.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: New Student

My eyes shot open when I heard the gentle ringing of my phone, signaling that it was time for me to get ready for school. As memories from the previous night came rushing in, I begin to take notice of where I was sleeping.

My head was resting on Naruto's chest, he had his arms wrapped around me, and mine were spread loosely around his shoulders, and our legs were almost intertwined. Crap, we must have fallen asleep watching the movie! I shifted my head slightly, and caught sight of Naruto's peaceful sleeping face. His shock of blonde hair was a jumbled mess, spread this way and that. His mouth was slightly open, breathing a steady rhythm onto my head.

"Naruto? Naruto. Wake up, we have to get ready for school." I carefully untangled myself from him, rather regretfully. It was chilly outside, and I was starting to figure out that he generated quite a lot of body heat. I shifted his hair and patted his head.

"Wake up, baka Naruto."

"…?" Naruto woke up slowly, and his electric blue eyes came to rest on my bright green ones.

"Get ready for school." I turned around so he wouldn't see me blushing.

As soon as he got into the shower, I scrimmaged through his fridge and came up completely empty. All he had were instant ramen bowls and some milk cartons. I massaged my head so I wouldn't freak out and yell at Naruto. What were we supposed to eat for breakfast? Oh well, I could just grab something at Starbucks and go grocery shopping on the way home. Thank god I had all my school materials and my extra phone charger and clothes in my backpack, otherwise I'd be doomed. I grabbed a quick change of clothes and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Naruto, hurry up in th-"

I was cut of when he opened the door and I fell face first into him. He grabbed my shoulders and steadied me.

"Whoa, whoa, Sakura-chan, what's the hurry?" His scent of ramen and something else unidentifiable still surrounded me, when he left five minutes later after making sure I had everything I needed.

"Okay Naruto, let's go. You have all your stuff?" I asked, 30 minutes later when we were all ready.

"Uh yeah."

Somehow, the walk to Starbucks seemed shorter then yesterday, when we had been running. Probably because today we were more relaxed.

We were greeted by the usual "Welcome" from the staff, and Sasuke was seated at his usual position at the back.

"Yo, guys." He said, spotting us.

"Hey." We both replied.

"I got you some bread, I figured Naruto would make you late again." He said with a smirk.

Naruto grimaced, but accepted gratefully. No one knew better than us how huge of an appetite he had.

"Yo."

"Good Morning."

"H-hello Naruto-kun."

Kiba, Shino, and Hinata arrived shortly after we had finished eating, as did Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji.

After that, it was only a short walk to school, before we arrived in our classroom ten minutes early.

"Hi! I'm Yuki Sarutobi! I just moved in here, so I'm new to this school! Nice to meet you!" We, or rather Naruto, was almost run over at the entrance as a girl about my height bounced up. She had flowing blonde hair that stopped short right above her waist, hazel eyes, and a bright face.

"H-hi. I'm Naruto." Naruto said, sounding dumbfounded. Yuki 'dropped' her pen, and bent over, revealing rather a lot of cleavage, right in Naruto's face. Him being a pervert, his eyes widened and face turned the light pink shade of her bra, now visible to all of us. She slowly got up, almost as if she purposely wanted us to see, stopping extremely close to Naruto.

"Soooorry, I'm really clumsy. Forgive me please Naruto-kun." She said in a sweet voice, putting on a puppy dog face.

"Uh, yeah sure, that's okay." She gave him a smile too sweet and flounced off, purposely making sure that her hair brushed his face.

Ino made gagging noises, and Hinata looked like she was going to cry. But I was just mad. Who was she? Why was she so interested in Naruto, and why hadn't she even given one look to Sasuke? Why was her target Naruto? My Naruto. My thoughts froze my movements, halfway between my seat and the doorway.

_My _Naruto? Since when was he _my _Naruto? _Since forever. _A sly voice whispered in my head. _Since you first met him you liked him, but you just liked the idea of liking Sasuke. _I shook my head, clearing up the thoughts fogging my brain. That wasn't true, I loved Sasuke and I always would.

A loud squeak from the back of the room grabbed my attention, causing me to turn around. Urgh. That Yuki had sat in the empty seat next to Naruto, and was currently leaning in and talking with him animatedly. What bothered me more was the fact that the idiot seemed completely at ease, and extremely happy. The last time I had seen him like this was a year ago, a while before he asked me out and I said no. After that, he didn't laugh this hard around me anymore.

Homeroom, Math, and PE went by quickly, and we soon found ourselves walking through the hallways to lunch.

Our friends, Ten-Ten and Lee had saved a spot for us at the far north corner by the giant window, and we all gratefully filled in.

"Uh, Ten-Ten-san, where is Neji-kun?" Hinata piped up. Neji was her cousin, so it was understandable that they were pretty close.

"Right here." He appeared out of nowhere, and slide in next to Ten –Ten. Ten-Ten, Lee, and Neji were a year older than us, but we had all met at lunch during our previous school, and had soon become friends.

"Hi guys, can I sit with you?" Just as we all had finished talking and had started eating, a wisp of yellow floated by, soon followed by Yuki's face. I narrowed my eyes, and scooted closer to Naruto. Noticing my discomfort, Sasuke, who was sitting on the other side of Naruto followed my eyes to Yuki, and bit his lip in understanding, scooting closer to Naruto as well.

"Mmm." Kiba regretfully scooted over to allow Yuki to scoot in around the circular table. Obviously we were squished, being that we now had 13 people at our table.

"So, everyone, how was school?" Yuki asked brightly.

"Doesn't have to be told to you, flirt." Ino muttered under her breath.

Yuki turned her giant fake smile onto Ino. "I didn't hear you sorry the people over there were yelling."

"Oh I didn't say anything." Ino replied, with a dazzling fake smile of her own.

"Oy, oy, Sakura-chan, why are you guys being so mean to Yuki?" Naruto whispered in my ear.

I looked at him angriliy. "Because she want's you."

"Wait. What?" He asked back, confused. I sighed, giving myself a face palm. What was with all these new developments? My grandparents had some disease, I was staying at Naruto's for the week, and some new girl named Yuki was trying to steal him from me. I once again froze, realizing that my thoughts implied the fact that I loved Naruto, which wasn't true.

"Naruto-kun, would you please show me where the bathroom is? I couldn't make it here for orientation yesterday." I clenched my fist.

"I can show you." I got up, prepared to lead her to the bathroom furthest away from us, but she beat me to it.

"Ah, it's okay Sakura-chan. You seem to be still eating, whereas Naruto-kun is done. In fact, everyone at this table is still eating but him. So I think it makes sense that he takes me." Naruto shrugged and got up, but I yanked him down by the sleeve before he left so I could whispser in his ear.

"You let her do anything, and I'll screw you." He gave me a confused look, and stood up.

"Yes sir, Sakura-chan." He saluted me and left, with a Yuki trailing closely behind.

"Hey Sakura. You thinking what we're thinking?" Ino asked with a sly smile, sliding an arm around Hinata's shoulder.

"Heck yeah!" Ten-Ten said enthusiastically, standing up. The boys watched us gather in a small circle with a bemused expression.

"Yeah." I said, grinning back. "Let's go stalk some idiots."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Akatsuki

"Naruto-kun, I think I want a snack first. Should we go to the vending machine outside?" Yuki asked, tilting her head to the side with an innocent face.

Hinata reached out to Naruto, about to open her mouth and speak, but Ino pulled her back to our hiding place behind the building with a hand over her mouth.

Naruto shrugged, and scratched his head. "Okay then…" Yuki giggled, and followed Naruto to the other side of the outside school building, with us following in the shadows.

Once there, she turned around. "Naruto-kun, I hear you are really good at soccer?"

Naruto looked pleased and surprised that Yuki had praised him. Why didn't we praise him anymore? We all knew his great talent in the sports, but I guess we were too busy praising Sasuke, who outshone him like nobody's business. While Naruto worked really hard to be good, for Sasuke it just came naturally. After realizing that... I felt kind of bad.

"Yeah, I'm not half bad." He admitted.

"Come join us then." Yuki purred, sidling up all close to Naruto. Really? Really!? Was this girl for real? How gross could someone get? She reminded me of those perverted girls on the anime shows that Naruto's godfather Jiraya watched. Since Jiraya didn't visit often, I didn't get to see him much, but the rare times he did he was usually over at Naruto's place, watching some kind of perverted anime with porn.

"What do you mean by join you?" Naruto asked, frowning.

"I go to Akatsuki high school, which only opened recently. Quit Konoha high school, and come join our soccer team. We are gathering at least one person from every school around. The current soccer team members already have been collecting people from four of the five main high schools. We need you from Konoha, and we are going to invite one more person from Kumogakure High School as well as one from Sunagakure High School, and we are set to go with the most epic soccer team in our schools, no _every _school's history. The school soccer tournaments are coming up, and this time, the school who wins will get a million dollar cash prize, full refurnishing, and advertising for new students. For a school as small as ours… we will need it."

Naruto narrowed his gaze. "So you want to use us. You want me to ditch my friends and come join you for some stupid soccer tournament?"

We silently cheered Naruto on from the sidelines.

"Yes. We do." This voice was different, a deeper male voice. A group of ten emerged, slowly walking in from the front gate, consisting of nine boys and one girl, all with the Akatsuki High School's red cloud symbol emblazoned on their black and red soccer jerseys.

"We are the current soccer team." A boy, maybe in his senior year stepped forward, and I recognized his voice as the one who spoke before.

"Let me introduce you to my teammates. I am Nagato. The girl here is Konan, and the boys are Deidara, Kisame, Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori, Zetsu, and Itachi, our youngest member." He said, pointing to each team member as he said their name. My eyes widened as I recognized the name of Sasuke's older brother, the one who had left him in order to become a famous actor. He had joined Akatsuki High School, which was only half an hour away, and didn't even bother to visit Sasuke with a sorry? How _despicable. _I gritted my teeth, about to launch myself outside beside Naruto, who was beginning to realize who Itachi was.

"No Sakura. Stay here, we need to watch what happens." Ino whispered, pulling me back.

Naruto clenched his hands into fists and grit his teeth. His body was visibly trembling with anger when he full on growled at Itachi.

"YOU! You are the one who left Sasuke, your _baby brother, _when your parents were murdered, just so you could become rich and not have to worry about going the same way!" He yelled, stepping forward, about to punch Itachi. Itachi hadn't blinked an eye throughout the whole outburst, but instead stood there expressionless, emotionless.

"We do not take kindly to outsiders harming our team members." Nagato said, with a hint of warning in his voice. "Especially when our team captain Tobi isn't here. I am only the co-captain, for he felt that I would be enough to get you to come with us."

"I won't. I _definitely _won't, I won't leave my friends, and I CERTAINLY won't come join you and that bastard Itachi. So leave, with this Yuki girl, and DON'T come back." Naruto snarled.

"This isn't good for you, little Naruto." Nagato said. "You will regret it."

The Akatsuki soccer team turned and left, with Yuki now following them. She turned around and blew Naruto a kiss, who disgustedly shook his head.

"And for you Yuki, with your tricks and kisses. It won't work on me. I won't fall in love with you. I already love someone else. Even if I did fall in love with you… you are just using me, trying to get me to join you. It would be stupid of me." He hissed.

Yuki smirked, placing a hand on her hip. "Reaaaally, is that so? Who would be better than me, hmmmm Naruto-kun?"

I could almost feel Hinata tensing up in anxiety while the four of us waited for his answer. I had to admit, I was a bit curious as well. All I knew was that he liked me two years ago when he last asked me out. I still didn't know who he liked now - it's not like it had come up while we were out sipping tea or something.

"Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan is a hundred times better than you. She... she is pretty, and smart, and kind... although a bit aggressive at sometimes... the pain" Here, he scrunched up his face, then lowered his eyes in a more sad expression. "I love her... but she loves Sasuke." Naruto blurted. His eyes widened, almost as if he wasn't supposed to say that.

Naruto… he still liked me? And he called me pretty and smart. I almost forgot about the fact that loved him until she crumbled down next to me, tears running down her face. I forced myself to forget about my love story for a moment and to try and help her out. Ten-Ten helped her up, gently whispering uplifting words to her. Ino tried to tell Hinata that Naruto was just an idiot, while I struggled to find some words. Why did I feel so happy? Hinata was freaking crying for god sake, while I stood here half smiling like a fool. I snapped the smile of my face, but was still lost for words. Happy or not, I was never good at situations like this.

"Yuki. Let's go." Yahiko's deep voice carried over the wind, as did Yuki's high pitched "Ok.".

But Hinata couldn't hold it in, no matter how hard she tried, and a wave of sobs shook her body. LOUDLY. Naruto, his hearing and sight being as sharp as a fox's, turned around to the place where the sound was coming, and began walking in that direction. In other words, he was coming for us. We had no time to find a different place to hide, nor was Hinata in any position to run, and we couldn't just leave her. We had no choice but to let Naruto find us in our haphazard spy group.

"Sakura-chan. Ino. Hinata. Ten-Ten." He said, his tone flat. "You heard everything didn't you?" He asked, his gaze directed towards Hinata's sobbing figure. He turned around, so that we couldn't see his face.

"Just forget what you heard, all right? It doesn't matter."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Ten-Ten jumped up. "You pretty much just admitted you loved Sakura, and you're saying it doesn't matter? How do you want Hinata to just forget? She loves you, you fool. And how do you want Sakura to forget as well? It isn't that easy." Ino nodded her head in agreement, but I was just watching Naruto spin around to stare at Hinata with wide eyes.

"Hinata…Hinata likes me?" He said in awe. "Sakura-chan, so when she was red and stuttering… I get it now! That's what you meant by figure it out yourself."

"Idiot, of course that's what I meant."

"Sakura, don't call Naruto an idiot, you have no right when you couldn't figure out for yourself that he liked you." Ino said, a ghost of a smirk etched on her face.

"Hinata, I'm sorry, I had no idea." Naruto sat down and looked into her pale gray eyes. They were so pale they were almost white, I think it was simply a Hyuga family trait. Everyone I'd ever seen from the Hyuga family had eyes like that.

"But… I love Sakura-chan, like Ten-Ten said. I'm sorry, I can't do anything to change my feelings, but I am happy that you feel that way." He told her.

Ino whistled. "Whoa there Naruto, I didn't know your dimwit brain could come up with that as a response."

"Shut up Ino." He replied with a glare. Hinata got up shakily, and wiped her eyes, giving us all a smile.

"Thank you Naruto-kun. We should head inside then." We followed her back inside the cafeteria to our seats at the far corner, where the boys were watching Shikamaru and Neji play shogi with the board that Shikamaru had brought to school. Obviously, Shikamaru was winning, but Neji wasn't loosing too badly either.

We sat down in our original seats, trying to not be too awkward.

"Where is Yuki? You guys ditch her somewhere?" Kiba asked with his wolfy grin.

Before we could answer, Neji had pinned Naruto against the window.

"Naruto you idiot, what did you do to Hinata to make her cry?"

We all looked at her. Crap, the tear lines down her face were still visible. Neji, ever so concerned about her wellbeing always noticed everything wrong with her, so he must have seen them as well, even though the way the light was shining on her face made them hard to see.

"Eh-Uh-"

"Cut it out Neji." Sasuke pushed Neji away from a frozen Naruto.

"Neji-niisan. Naruto-kun didn't do anything to me, I just got felt like crying… so I cried." Aaah, Hinata... if you're going to come up with an excuse, you have to do better than that.

"Naruto… Naruto said that he loved Sakura." Ino blurted out. Ten-Ten, Hinata, and I turned around to stare at Ino while Naruto just slumped down the wall. We were attracting a lot of attention now, and it was getting sort of awkward. Blushing, I opened my mouth to deny it, or make up a story, but Kiba beat me to it.

Kiba blinked. "But we all knew that already." They all _knew!? _Was I as stupid as Naruto when it came to love!?

"This explains why Hinata was crying at least." Neji sighed.

Kiba went and laid an arm across Hinata's shoulders. "Hey, c'mon Hinata, we all know Naruto is just a big idiot. You still have us."

"Thank you Kiba-kun." Hinata rested a tentative head on Kiba's shoulder, slowly but carefully. Kiba looked surprised, but made no moves to push her away.

"Hey guys!"

"Wassup."

"Hello."

We turned around abruptly, to find our friends from Sunagakure High School, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara all standing there. An audible sigh went around the table. Too many people in one day – it was giving me a headache.

"We were chosen for the student exchange from our school!" Temari said brightly. "I'm in Neji-san, Ten-Ten-san and Lee-sans' homeroom! And Gaara is with the rest of you. Kankuro is in some other classroom.

"That's just a drag." Shikamaru said in his usual bored voice, but with a small smile. We all grinned. Shikamaru was a hidden genius. His IQ? Off the charts, extremely high, almost breaking the world record, which was his dad's IQ. But he was lazy as a sloth, not to mention we all knew he and Temari had a thing, if you get what I mean. But of course, ask one of them if that was true and they would downright deny it.

"Sakura. Naruto. Could you guys follow me for a second? I have to ask you a question." Sasuke said, standing up.

"Eh… okay?" I glanced over at Naruto with a confused expression, and Naruto returned it, but just barely. I turned away a little surprised. Did I say something wrong?

We followed Sasuke outside, where he turned around to face us with a determined expression.

He took a deep breath, then spoke in a manner that screamed _I'm really pissed and mad and confused right now but I'm trying to control my emotions! _"I saw Itachi."

"!?"

"!"

"I heard Naruto yelling, so I told the rest I wanted seconds and left the table. I actually came outside though. I saw the famous Akatsuki soccer group, and Naruto yelling at Itachi, who was wearing the Akatsuki High School uniform." He said in a monotonous voice.

"Th-" Naruto covered my mouth and pulled me into him, completely blocking my eyes, ears, and mouth. I tried to focus on the fact that I now would not be able to tell Sasuke the truth, and not the fact that I was wrapped up and pressed into Naruto. His scent of spices and ramen washed over me once again, momentarily rendering me motionless, until he let go of me.

"Let's go, Sasuke."

"…Mm."

Naruto and Sasuke walked off, leaving me completely alone and clueless. I began to walk after them but Naruto turned around and gave me his signature blinding smile, which now for some reason made my heart race.

"Sorry Sakura-chan." He apologized. "Sasuke and I… have to find someone. So please stay here."

"Eh?! Oh. Uh… ok?"

"We will come with you too." Sasuke jerked around in slow motion, and I looked back at the direction of the speaker. Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, and Neji were standing there, grim smiles on their faces.

"We heard everything. If it's Itachi… we have to come with you." Neji said, in a low voice.

"No. this is something… This is something I have to do alone." Sasuke said. With an apologetic glance at Naruto, he ran, leaving us to inhale the dust he had kicked up.

"Naruto!" I ran up to him and buried my face into his shirt. I was getting a really bad feeling from Sasuke running of by himself… it wasn't like him. "Please. Promise me… promise me you'll make sure you bring back Sasuke safe and sound!?" I whispered into him.

A long pause ensued my request, and Naruto replied in a barely audible voice. "I promise."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Kiss!?

"Sakura! That's terrible!" Ino snapped at me. I shrunk away from her, thinking maybe all that coffee had gotten to her. Looking around for ten-ten and Hinata for some support, I turned around to find them sitting behind me. Ten-Ten was sitting behind me nodding her head in agreement with Ino, and Hinata seemed a little worried. Well… looks like I wouldn't be getting any support from them.

"What are you talking about!?" I asked angrily. "I already told you. I asked Naruto to promise me to bring back Sasuke-kun safely! Is there something wrong with that?"

"I-I think I agree with Ino-chan." Hinata spoke up. "Naruto-kun had almost attacked Itachi, and now some group is after him, or rather, his power. Sakura-chan, you didn't even give one thought to Naruto, instead you sent him out after Sasuke-kun. It's dangerous for Naruto to go out alone now. The most likely scenario is that Sasuke-kun is currently in Akatsuki property right now, seeking out Itachi. He is safe, because for some reason they don't want or need him, and they can't do anything to him in daylight, if they really are as terrible as they seem. However, for Naruto, it's dangerous. And not only did you not check to see how he felt, if he was ok, if he was hurt, you completely ignored the fact that he just said that he loved you. How would he feel? And yet he held that all in in order to go after Sasuke, and fulfill his wish and yours."

_He just said he loved you. _Hinata's words swirled around in my brain. Naruto, my little blond idiot said he loved me. I pushed all thoughts of Sasuke from my mind, focusing solely on Naruto. How did I feel about him? Flashes of his smiling face flew threw my eyes. Naruto grinning after being accepted into the Konoha High School. Naruto smiling when I told him I'd gotten top in the class. Naruto… he was indeed special to me. But as a friend or as someone I loved? A scene came back to mind, of Naruto as he was a little kid, already orphaned unlike Sasuke who had a family at the time. I would often see them both at the supermarket. Sasuke with his happy mom, and Naruto, alone and always at the ramen section, dressed in dirty mismatched clothes. People would often look at him in disdain. The little blue eyed, crying boy that everyone despised. The one that would run around and play pranks to get attention. The first smile I had ever seen from him was when he had asked me if I was his friend, and I replied with a 'yes you idiot.' Even then, his smile was blinding. I think… I think I did love Naruto. My eyes widened, and I could see my pupils grow bigger even now in the window, a sign of lust. But. The problem of my feelings towards Sasuke was a concern. I sighed. I loved Naruto, but I didn't love him as much as Sasuke. Yet.

"Sakura!"

"Eh!?" I jumped at the sound of Ino's voice in the otherwise quiet park.

"There is a strange looking slug near you. You might want to move? Geez, wherever we are in the park, the slugs always manage to find you." Ino sighed. "Same thing with Naruto and his toad-ish looking frogs, and Sasuke and his abnormally large snakes. They just seem to find you out of nowhere… it's kind of creepy. Do you guys have a strange animal fetish or something?"

"You act like it's my fault."

"Whatever. I'm going home… see you tomorrow Sakura. Make sure you sort out your feelings." Ino got up and left, leaving Hinata and me alone. Ten-Ten had left a while ago, saying something about her parent's curfew when they weren't at home.

"Eh… Sakura-chan, I should-"

"Hinata!"

"Kiba-kun!" I blinked, looking from Hinata to Kiba. Was it my imagination, or did Hinata just blush?

"You wanna come with me? I'm buying some treats for Akamaru." Kiba patted the head of his dog, who was running alongside him. Once getting closer, he noticed that I was with Hinata as well.

"Ah, yo Sakura. Erm…"

"It's okay. I have to get going now. You guys enjoy!" I turned around and began walking towards Naruto's house, with a tiny smile. Now that Kiba knew that Hinata couldn't be with Naruto, I had a feeling that those two would get a _little _closer then friends soon.

Only when getting to Naruto's apartment did I realize that I had forgotten to ask Naruto for an extra key, because I had assumed he would be with me when we returned. Maybe I should call him? I paused, my hand an inch away from my bag, when I remembered what Hinata had said about not being concerned about him and just being concerned about Sasuke and myself. Maybe I should wait outside…

"Eek!" I screeched when I fell head first into Naruto's apartment after leaning on his door handle for two seconds. I looked back out in surprise. The door was open? That was a surprise… Naruto definitely had locked it this morning.

"Sakura….chan?" Naruto was home? Sasuke. Where was Sasuke? No. I had to check Naruto first. I ran into the living room to find Naruto gazing at me with a slightly vacant confused expression. His shirt was off and was thrown across the sofa, and some pillows were heaped under his head. He looked absolutely _terrible. _He had cuts and bruises across his chest and face, and his one purple eye state had appeared to have worsened into two black eyes. There was some bleeding from a cut on his check, and he had bandages wrapped all over his hands.

"Naruto! What the hell happened!?" I rushed forward and felt his forehead. No fever. I let out a sigh of relief, and tried to assess his situation. The way he was, I needed to take care of wounds first, then give him some food other than ramen.

"Akatsuki… Sasuke went home. We yelled at Itachi. The Kisame guy beat me up… but left Sasuke alone."

"Okay. It's okay. Stop talking, I'll go get some Band-Aids." I went into his bathroom and began searching through his drawers, finally finding a box of Band-Aids and a box of medical wrapping and cleaning kit sitting beneath some socks.

When I came back, he had pushed himself up, sitting and looking depressed. I made him lay down, and began wiping his wounds with alcohol wipes. I could feel his body wince when I pressed against each cut, but there was nothing I could do for now. He had to endure. Once I finished cleaning him up, I wrapped him up in the wrappings and Band-Aids.

"Naruto, stay here. I'll make something for you."

He nodded closing his eyes and relaxing further into the sofa. Damnit. I was going to kill that stupid Akatsuki. And Sasuke, why didn't he help out Naruto? I sighed, massaging my forehead. I looked around in his fridge and cabinets, coming up with a pot and a bag of uncooked rice. Oh well. I guess he was eating some rice porridge today. I placed the pot on his stove and began cooking and smashing and mushing the rice with some water, so I could make some decent rice porridge.

It didn't take me that long to finish, and I'd brought the porridge back to Naruto before 8 o' clock. Who was sitting dejectedly on the sofa?

"Sasuke won't come back."

"Eh!?" I asked confusedly. He had just told me that Sasuke had come back… did he lie?

"He came back, he is living in the same place. But he won't attend Konoha anymore. He's switching to Akatsuki High School… in order to get close to his brother."

My eyes widened, and I placed the porridge, all but forgotten, on his coffee table.

"We have to go see him!" I exclaimed. "Now!" Naruto nodded, then winced, but I paid no attention. Sasuke… he couldn't be leaving us! Us… and all our friends!

Naruto grabbed his keys, and we ran almost all the way to Sasuke's place.

Panting and rubbing my burning legs, I watched while Naruto rang Sasuke's bell. He opened the door with a minute, and took in the scene: Naruto standing, me clutching my legs. He narrowed his eyes, and made to close the door, but Naruto kept it open.

"Sakura-chan. Go in!" I obeyed him without thinking, running inside despite my pained muscles. I collapsed on Sasuke's wooden floor, huffing and puffing, trying to regain my breath. It took me a moment to look around and notice the difference between Naruto's apartment and Sasuke's apartment. Whereas Naruto's had been a messy, cozy place, Sasuke's was more of a perfect, clean, and spotless place, giving the feeling that no one lived here. If it wasn't for the small plate of dumplings sitting on his table, indicating that he had been eating, you wouldn't be able to tell for sure at all.

"You dumbass. What the hell do you think you're doing, coming over? Didn't I tell you to stay away?" Sasuke said in a creepily calm voice that completely displayed how angry he was. Naruto huffed and cast me a sideways glance.

"Actually Sasuke… you might want to come back to Konoha High School. You do realize that Akatsuki isn't exactly the best place to be in? You wanna ruin your future for getting revenge on Itachi? And I still don't see how transferring will help you…"

"And who are you to tell me that?" Sasuke said, his harsh tone accompanied by a murderous look.

Naruto grinned, and splayed his hands out in peace signs.

"I! I am Naruto Uzumaki, awesome student of Konoha High School, will be the next greatest…uh…whatever I want to be, and people call me-"

"A dumbass." Sasuke interjected with an annoyed face.

"People call me a dumbass!" Naruto said happily. Then realizing what he had called himself, he quickly became irritated. "Sasuke, you jerk."

"Sakura, Naruto. I won't give up my life for you two. Get lost and don't come back." I stared at Sasuke sadly. Was this really the Sasuke that I loved? No… he wasn't. I could see a new malicious glint in those dark, dark black eyes.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the hem of his shirt, and he winced. I reached out to Naruto, remembering now that he had been hurt badly. Ah! His wounds! I had completely forgotten… I was such a terrible person!

"Sasuke let him go!" I said, pleading with him. Naruto turned his gaze over to me, noticing the vulnerable situation I was in currently, and moved so that he was shielding me. I hunched back and slid against the wall, closing my eyes. I was pathetic. I was weak. I was stupid.

A large _thwump _sounded from somewhere in front of me, forcing me to open my eyes and take in the scene. The boys were fighting. Naruto and Sasuke, the two most important people in my life, were currently battling it out right in front of me. Naruto began to throw random punches at Sasuke, who easily avoided it and sent one hard kick to Naruto's stomach, which sent him reeling and crashing into the wall next to me. A trickle of blood trailed down his face from his hairline, and his eyes closed in pain. Sasuke, looking satisfied, shot a glare at me.

"If you know what's good for both of you, Sakura, you'll take him out now." I looked up at Naruto… or rather down, as he fell towards me, unconscious. Sasuke disappeared, slamming shut his bedroom door, completely ignoring both of us. I caught Naruto right before he hit the floor, his soft, light colored hair splaying haphazardly in my hands when I tried to balance his head.

"Naruto?" I called out softly. "Naruto, get up." He groaned opening his eyes, which came to rest on my face. He immediately snapped his head around, searching for Sasuke, but I stopped him pulling him up, and resting my head on his shoulder while steadying him at the same time.

"Sasuke… won't listen. But Naruto, first you have to fix your injuries! You're hurt badly!" I told him pushing him out the front door and closing it. Thank god no one was around on the streets, otherwise I'd have some explaining to do as to why I was carrying out a half-unconscious, bruised up teen boy out of someone's house.

"I-I can't. I promised. I promised I'd bring him back." He told me. I squeezed him tighter, burying my face into his shirt, and let some tears leak out. What had I done to him? My words… did they really have such a burden on him? But of course. He said he loved me. I was the idiot here… not him. Ino and Hinata were right, I was terrible.

"Naruto." I struggled to keep my voice level. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow we will come back. But for now you have to help me out here – as strong as I am, I can't exactly go carrying you back to your apartment." He silently pried my hands from the back of his shirt, and turned around so that he wasn't facing me, slowly walking down the street. I followed him quietly.

The walk back to his apartment was painfully quiet, giving me no room to gouge the depth of his current thoughts, but I could clearly see each step was hurting him. As soon as we got back, I forced him down onto the sofa, pushing him down so that only his feet were dangling off. I raced into the kitchen to reheat the bowl of rice porridge, bringing it back to him with a spoon.

"Eat." I told him, sitting down and watching him. A small smile came to my lips when I saw how fast and hungrily he devoured his food. No matter what was going on, he was always hungry for food.

"I'll go get some more bandages…" I told him, as soon as he finished. He gave no indication that he had heard me, instead choosing to sink deeper into the sofa and to stare at me.

"Na-naruto!" I scolded him, getting up and hiding my blush. "Don't stare, it's rude."

I went back into the bathroom where I had previously found his bandages, grabbed some more and came back out. Naruto was still lying down, although he was now staring at the ceiling.

"Ok. Turn around." I sat down, right in front of him, and he turned around. My eyes widened when I realized that our faces were so close that our noses were touching. His eyelids dropped, so that he gave of the aura of one about to sleep, but his arms snaked around me, pulling me close. Our lips met.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: Thank you SO SO SO much for waiting it out. For those readers out there that come back and check, I really REALLY appreciate it, you do not know how much I love you :) . As for the next chapter, I have no idea when it will be out, because I have three tests this week :P. I will try to post it ASAP. And please, please, review, it really makes me motivated. :)**_

Chapter 6:

I was…surprised, excited, scared, happy, and more. Too many emotions to name.

He didn't push, and I didn't refuse. It was gentle and sweet, like he was trying not to hurt me. Our tongues stayed firmly in our mouths, and as irritating as it was, he didn't touch me with his hands either. Did he not know how tempting it was to pull him close and make this never stop? Apparently not, because he pulled away at the next second, looking extremely remorseful.

"Sorry Sakura-chan I…um… well, sorry." He muttered, turning away, but not before I caught sight of him biting his lip and his red face. The only time he ever bit his lip was when he was sorry or when he was lying.

"Um. Yeah…. Naruto?" I asked turning him around.

"Huh?" He asked, avoiding my eyes.

"Was that your first k-kiss?" I asked, shyly.

"Yeah…why?"

"Because. Um. It's mine too…" I muttered. But this wasn't good. I had to choose now. Naruto. Or Sasuke?

If I weighed them both on a scale…

I loved them both so much. But when I thought of love, the face that appeared in front of me was Sasuke.

Which meant that all my delusions of not loving Sasuke weren't true right? It meant that I loved Sasuke more than Naruto…right?

"Sakura-chan."

"Do you want to…um…do you want to be my girlfriend?" He asked.

I had no option. Not only did I love Sasuke more, but if I said yes to him, it would only give him false hope, and hurt all three of us.

" Naruto. We can't… we can't be together like this. Like um… no more kissing and stuff. Because you were right. I love Sasuke." _Way to go Sakura… that is totally the perfect way to reject your best friend_, I chided myself.

I was watching Naruto's face carefully, and thank god I was otherwise I would have missed the slight shrinking of his face and the downward look of defeat.

"Yeah. I was just um… practicing." I knew he was lying. He knew he was lying. So I figured I might as well make it like I didn't know he was lying.

"Oh. Practicing for who?" I asked, feigning interest.

He looked shocked, like he hadn't expected me to call his bluff.

"Hinata." My eyes nearly popped out of my head. Of all the people he could have chosen… he chose Hinata….

"G-g-good morning Naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered. We were all at our usual table at Starbucks, but Kiba, Hinata, Naruto and I were there a bit early.

"Naruto. You. Me. Outside. Now." Kiba growled. Hinata looked down sadly, and Naruto looked confused. What was going on?

NARUTO'S POV

"Yeah Kiba, what's up?" I asked, like everything was alright. Like Sakura-chan hadn't rejected me. Twice.

"Look. Hinata really loves you, okay?" I scratched my head. I already knew that. Why was he telling me again?

"She really REALLY loves you. So don't be an idiot. I um… I sort of asked her out yesterday." The usually ultimate macho guy was suddenly blushing, taking me by complete surprise. But the blush was accompanied by a look of hurt and rejection.

"She told me that she thought I was a great person and that I was her best friend, but that she loved you. Still. Even after she found out you didn't love her. So just give her a chance. Okay? I want her to be happy. Sakura is a great person, but once you get to know Hinata… you just can't not love her. Just try. I'll do whatever you want."

I turned my head so that I was able to view Hinata through the window. Her soft grey eyes were framed by delicate curled eyelashes, and thick black hair fell to her waist. Rose color lips gently opened every now and then to talk, and her smooth, fair hands rested on her laps.

If I had to think of three words to describe her, I would say gentle, shy, and beautiful.

I shrugged, and turned back to face Kiba. "Ok. But before I ask her out on a date, I want to get to know her better. At school, outside school, and more."

Kiba grit his teeth. "As long as she is happy, you can do whatever you want. But if I see one tear, I will hunt you down. You understand?"

"Woah man, okay. I'm not a _complete _idiot. I really love Hinata. Like a sister. But I can try to change my feelings. If it doesn't work, then don't yell at me."

"All I'm asking is for you to try bro."

"Deal."

"Deal."

We both walked back inside to face the women we both loved. Sakura, and Hinata. But after this, who would I come to love more?

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the one month wait... I was in India visiting family, and as soon as I got back, school started. I'm in eighth grade now (whopeee!) so the homework load is quite heavy from the start... so plz bear with me if im a little off with my story, I will say that it might take a while for me to update the next chapter. The update every two days will probably change to update every 1-2 weeks. Just a heads up. My next chapter will be coming out either tomorrow or the day after, so once again, please stick with me. Also, the comments REALLY REALLY help, they inspire me and tell me what to do better. Not getting comments is actually quite depressing... :P. So please comment, and let me know how I can do better, and just stick with me as I get my schedule worked out, thanks!**

**-Kisa**


End file.
